Toy.



1. c. nETTnA.

TOY.

APPLICATIoN FILED DEC.2I. 1918- Patented Aug. 7, 1917.

ornew fl. C. DETTBA.

l wv. APPLICATION FILED DELZI. |916- Pmnd Aug. 7, 1917.

2 ySHEETS-SHEET 2.

Inventar.'

i UNITED sTATEs 4PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN CUDETTBA, OF OAKS, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN C. DETTBA & COMPANY,

' INC., OF OAKS, PENNSYLVANIA, A. CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

TOY.

Specification. of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 7, 1917.

Application ined December 21", 1916. serial No. 138,185.

To N whomy 'it may concern: Be it known that I, JOHN C. DETTRA, a citizen'of the United States, and a` resident of Oaks, county of Montgomery, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Toy, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

A principal object of my invention is ,to provide an entertaining and amusing toy which can be safely operated by children and which shall be simple iii construction and not liable to get lout of order Veven though subjected to relativel)1 hard usage. M v invention further comprises all ofthe various other objects and novel features of construction and arrangement hereinafter more definitely specified and described.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure l is a perspective view illustrating vthe operation of the invention; Fig. 2, a horizontal sectionA partially broken away through one of the parts of the invention and Fig. 3 a vertical section taken on line 3-8 in Fig. 2.

The form of the invention illustrated in the drawings comprises a pair of members A aiidB which may preferably be constructed to resemble naval vessels and will hereinafter for convenience be respectively referred to as the battleship and the cru1ser. The former, which may prefer- ,ably be constructed ofwood or other suitable material, may` comprise a bottom 1, sides 2-2 and a deck 3 securedtogether and forming the hull which is provided with a central` cavity For con vcnience of conbe secured to the bottom to support the deck 3, and the sides 2-2 fastened to the end blocks and to the bottom and deck, or the sides and ends mayl be made from one piece of material, or, if desired, the hull may be constructed 'in any othercoiivenient manner. To more nearly complete the resemblance of the battleship to a naval vessel a superstructure 7 may be secured to the deck'and arranged to support turrets 8, inasts 9 and funnels 10 which may be provided with studs 112 arranged' to engage in sockets invin groove 27 when the projectile has ated cannon or gun 15 stationarily supported with respect to the hull and adapted to discharge a cylindrical projectile 16, and

while the gun may be of any suitable or preferred construction, that shown in the drawings comprises a chamber 17 in which is positioned a coil spring 18 carrying a head 19, the bore of the chamber being greater than that of the lbarrel of the gun so that a shoulder 20 is formed at the forward end of the chamber against which the head 19 is adapted to strike when the gun is discharged. Forward of the chamber-fthe gun is provided with a transverse slot 22 in which a spring is adapted to normally engage, one end ofthe spring beingsecured to a suitable portion of the hull, as, for

example, one of the blocks 6 in such Inan` ner that the spring, adjacent its other end, will freely enter the slot and normally rest on the bottom thereof, as best Vshown in F ig.

3. The projectile 16 is preferably cylindrical in form and provided adjacent its sitioned thatwhen the projectile is inserted in the gun and pushed home therein to compress springy 1S as shown in Fig. 3, spring 25I will ride up on the projectile, which may preferably be tapered toward its rear extremity to facilitate this action, and enoage j een inserted sufficiently far to bring the groove into registry with the slot, thus Vretaining the projectile in the gun against the compression of spring 18.

For the purpose of raising spring 25 out of groove 2T at the proper time, as hereinafter described` and-thereby releasing the projectile., a suitable trigger 30 is provided and pivoted. preferably substantially beneat-h the gun, to the bottom 1 of the hull by a pivot pin `31 to permit of its rotation in a. horizontal plane about the pivot, the ends of the trigger being arranged to project beyond thc sides of the hull through a pair of oppositiely disposed slots 34 therein.

.rear end with a perip ieral groove 27 so po- The free end of spring 25 which projects beyond the gun is `turned downwardly and then horizontally to form a foot35, and the ei'lge of thetrigger adjacent the spring is suitably beveled, as at 36, vso that as the trigger is moved about its pivot it may be caused to lift spring 25 by engagement of Vthe beveled portion of the trigger therewith for a sufficient distance to lift the as best indicated fragmentarily in dot-ted` lines in Fig. 1, and may comprise end pieces 41, center pieces 42 from which a con siderable portion of the hull and superstructure is composed, masts 43 and funnels 44, although of course the form and ar` rangement. of the blocks may be varied as desired, the object being to provide a niimber orn separate units which may be assemy bled on thebase so as to resemble a vessel or the like. To facilitate the operation of the invention, it'is preferable to make the blocks as light as possible, for example by' :toi-ming them of channel section as shown instead of solid` One end of base 40 is provided with a screw-eye 45 or the like for the 'convenient attachment of a relatively stiff wire or rod 46 having a hook 47 at one end `adaptedto engage the scre\v-eye, the other end of .the Wire being arranged for insertion in a hole 48 in` that end of the trigger 30 adjacent the muzzle of gun 15.

The parts having been constructed preferably substantially as described and shown, the operation of the invention may be briefly indicated as follows: The separate blocksV are lirst arranged upon -base 40 to form they cruiser as fragmentarily shown in dotted lines in Fig. l, the Wire inserted-in the trigger and hook 47 engaged in screw-eye 45, the trigger being positioned substantially as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1,` which will bring the cruiser into a position considerably astern of the battleship. The projectile is next inserted in the gun until spring 25 engages in groove 27, and the trigger then rotated about its pivot by grasping the end of the trigger opposite to that in which the Wire is inserted thereby causing the cruiser to move relatively to the battleship until it is substantially abreast thereof when the trigger will have been rotated sufficiently far to lift spring 25 and release projectile 16 which strikes the built up portion of the cruiser with ysufficient force to scatter the blocks from which it is constructed in niimerous directions, thus giving an appearance substantially similar to that which might occur upon the blowing up of a vessel. Of course it will be iinderstoodthat the blocks from which the cruiser is constructed are not materiallyV injured by the impact of the projectile and hence the cruiser maybe reconstructed and the toy operated as often as desired Wit-hout material Wearii'pon, or injury to, the various parts. .y

While I have herein illustrated and described one embodiment of my inventionv With considerable particularity 1 do not thereby desire or intend to'- limit myself solely thereto, as suitable changes and modifications may be made in the form and arrangement-of the various parts, and the external appearance of those elements of tlie invention which I have. for convenience, herein designated as the "battleship"and the. I"ei'iliseim may be varied as desired from that shown in the drawings, without departing from tbeV spirit and scope ot' my invention as defined iii the appended claims.

Having Athus described my invention I clainiand desire to protect by Letters latent of the llnited States l. A tov comprising relatively movable members` one of said members having means operative to discharge a projectile. means operative to move the other of said members with respect to saidfirstmeiitioiied member and Ameans operative to discharge a. projeetile when said relativelyv moving member has reached a predetermined position with respect to said relatively stationair;T member.

2. A toy comprising relatively movablemembers, oiieof said members being composed of a. plurality of separate pieces, means upon the other of said members operative to discharge a projectile, means connecting said members, means operative to move said first-mentioned meinberwith respect to said last-mentioned member, and means operative to actuate said projectile discharging means when said first-mentioned member has 'reached a predetermined position with respect to said last-iiientioned member.

3. A toy comprising a pair of relatively movable members, means on one of said members operative to discharge a projectile ina predetermined direction with respect t0 said member, means connecting said members and operative to cause the movement of the other of said members with respect to said first-mentioned member to bring said member into the line of flight of the projectile, and means operative to cause the discharge of a projectile when said member is in said line of flight.

4. A toy comprising a pair of lindependently movable members, means connecting said members, means i'ipon'one of said members operative to discharge a. projectile, a projectile, means operative to move said connecting means to causerelative movement between said members and means operative to discharge said projectile when said mem,- bers have been moved to assume a predetermined'position.

5. A toyv comprising a member formed t0 resemble a vessel and having means operative to discharge aprojectile, a second inember composed of a plurality of separate blocks assembled to forni the niemberfineans loperative to connect said members, means coperativeV with said connecting means to cause relative movement of Said. members,

land means operative to cause theV discharge of aprojectile from said projectile d1scharg ing means when said members are moved Amentioned member to bring said member `into the path of said projectile and means operative to cause the discharge of the projectile after said member has moved into the path thereof.

7. A toy comprising a member having a 'spring operated gun adapted to discharge a projectile, a second member comprising a plurality of independentun'its, means oper-1 ative to .connect said members, means oper-4 ati\'e to cause the relative movement' of said members through said connectingmeans and means to cause the discharge of a projectile from said gun when said second membery is movedpinto a predetermined position with respect to said first-mentioned member.

8. A toy com rising a member formedl to resemble a vesse and having a laterally projecting spring operated gun adapted to discharge a projectile, a second member comprising a plurality ofV independent pieces assembled to form the completed member, means connecting said members, means comprising a trigger pivoted to said first-mentioned member and operative to cause the movement of said connecting means to' draw said second member into a predetermined position with respect 'to said first-mentioned member, and means operative to cause the discharge of a projectile from said gun against said second member when said member has been brought into a predetermined position With respect to said first i member.

, In'witness whereof, I` have hereuntoset my.. hand this 14th day of December, A. D.

JOHN C..D E'1'112.a; 

